XOLOS SELL RIASCOS AT TRANSFER DEADLINE

With just minutes left before the Mexican transfer deadline late Wednesday night, what many Xolos fans considered the inevitable happened. Duvier Riascos is gone.

The Xolos sold the star Colombian striker to fellow Liga MX club Pachuca for an undisclosed fee. Two other players went to Puebla: Argentine forward Alfredo Moreno and 35-year-old midfielder Leandro Augusto.

The 26-year-old Riascos spent an eventful and controversial two years in Tijuana, responsible for some of the most important strikes in club history and maybe its biggest miss. He scored 23 goals, including a team-leading 18 in the 2012-13 campaign that included a Liga MX title. He also had a penalty kick saved last week in the final seconds at Brazil’s Atletico Mineiro that would have put the Xolos into the Copa Libertadores semifinals.

Knowing his departure was imminent, the Xolos acquired U.S. national team forward Herculez Gomez from Santos Laguna. The club still has not formally announced the move, but Santos Laguna has and the transaction appears on official Liga MX lists.

The Brazilian-born Leandro had been with the Xolos since 2011 but found himself on the substitutes’ bench in coach Antonio Mohamed’s 4-3-3 formation. Moreno was a regular starter, but he was on loan from Chiapas and wasn’t Tijuana property.

In all, Tijuana was among the least active teams in the Mexican transfer market (Chivas, for instance, made 14 moves). That likely means the club will shop for players outside the country, with the departures of Riascos and Moreno opening two foreign roster spots.

Ecuador’s Fidel Martinez has been part of transfer rumors outside Mexico, which could open yet another.

Many of the new faces could be unveiled in the July 6 friendly against Club America at Petco Park.